THE MUSIC
It all started with a verse
Interview by Short Kut
Short Kut : Where did you come up with the idea , “ Life is Pricele $$?” Pastor Stokes :“ Life is Pricele $$” originally started with a verse I wrote for a song called “ Random Violence ” but the song was never recorded . I put the verse away and focused more on myself . Short Kut : What was the verse about ? Pastor Stokes : The verse was about characters the Lord had blessed me with but at the time I wrote it I could not under-stand the language of God . I was trying to change but Satan wanted me to continue on my selfish path and this was the most unselfish rap I had ever written . It talked about real problems other people had , and most of my raps where only about me , myself , and I . The characters seem to come alive and I needed to write more about them because the verse wasn ’ t telling the whole story . Short Kut : Why do the song now ? Pastor Stokes : I left it alone for some years and even stopped rapping for three years . God was chasing after me , changing my life and with this change came growth . I buried myself in the Word and started to practice my faith . I stopped performing live but God told me to still write . So I did , I finished that verse and turn it into a song . From the song came more songs , I couldn ’ t stop writing . I wrote ten songs in one week , all about these characters . Then the rhyming got complicated so God spoke through my wife 6 and she told me to use my other talents .
Short Kut : Sounds like your wife played a big role in this as well . What other talents was she referring to ? Pastor Stokes : At the time I got upset and told her I had no other talents but rap . She prayed for me and my eyes where open to all the other abilities God blessed me with . I created a story and the characters had their own stories so it became a book then a series of books . One day my pastor put our church on a vision fast , that meant no television for awhile . Whoa , me not watching TV this was going to be hard . Short Kut : No T . V .? Wow . Must have been challenging . Tell me more . Pastor Stokes : Well , once that happen my mind was forced to be creative and I wrote a PLAY and a MOVIE . I had great challenges putting this project together but I wouldn ’ t change the experience for anything . Short Kut : If you could sum up the expereince from doing this product , what would you say ? Pastor Stokes : It changed my life so with the blessing of God and my prayers hopefully it should do the same for you . God bless you all Amen .
Preview edition | Page 8